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I'll be learning this amazing piece for a concerto competition next year. I've been looking for some sheet music to order, but not sure which to go for... sheet music plus has these options - what I need is a piano score with a 2 hands orchestral reduction.

Do be careful what you order. Some of those editions that you have linked on Sheet Music Plus are marked "Piano solo" and "Piano solista." For a concerto competition, you don't want a piano solo version that integrates piano part and orchestra, you need a two-piano score which reduces the orchestral part to a second piano and maintains the solo piano part as originally written.

The third item, published by Masters Music or the last one, "Reduccion 2 pianos" published by Boileau would seem to me to be the safe bets among those listed.

Thanks, BDB and BruceD. From your comments and the comments on Sheet Music Plus it sounds like the copies labelled "2 pianos/4 hands" are referring to the orchestral part only, and I might have to find two accompanists. What fun!

I would bet that the piano solo version would be exactly that, the solo part alone, without accompaniment. That would be acceptable for competitions, but if you are required to have an accompaniment, then you would need the 2 piano version. It might be worthwhile having both, because there are fewer page turns in the solo part. That would be handier for learning.

I would bet that the piano solo version would be exactly that, the solo part alone, without accompaniment.[...]

From my experience with concerto scores, I would tend to disagree with that. A piano solo arrangement is just that: the entire work written as a piano solo, with the solo piano playing the orchestral tutti when the piano is not playing and with, at certain points the piano taking the melody when, in the original at that point, the piano has an accompanying role.

It wouldn't make much sense to have a "solo piano" version with only the solo piano part. What does the "solo pianist" do when the orchestra is playing and s/he isn't; sit there and count sixteen measures of silence?

A good case in point - since I don't have many scores of piano concertos that are "solo piano" versions, is the solo piano version of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. The entire orchestral introduction is played by the "solo piano" which is not the case in the original version for piano and orchestra (jazz band).

Similarly, I have copies of both the "piano solo" version of Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto" and there are several instances in the original with orchestra where the piano has an accompanying role against the orchestra's melody and, in the "piano solo" version the piano takes the orchestral melody.

I certainly wouldn't want to be studying a "piano solo" version to find out, eventually, that I'd not been playing the piano part of the piano with orchestra original.

Thanks, BDB and BruceD. From your comments and the comments on Sheet Music Plus it sounds like the copies labelled "2 pianos/4 hands" are referring to the orchestral part only, and I might have to find two accompanists. What fun!

I think not. Piano concerto scores - when you don't have the complete orchestra parts - are almost always written for two pianos: the solo pianist (with his/her two hands) plays the piano part and the accompanying pianist (with his/her two hands) plays the orchestral part which has been "reduced" to a single piano score. Total : four hands. Such scores are invariably referred to as being written for two pianos, four hands. From the standpoint of practicality - and from my own experience - it wouldn't make much sense to have two pianists on the accompanying piano.

I've just checked through over a half dozen of my piano concerto scores published in this manner and they all have this in common : - the original solo piano part- the orchestral part reduced for one pianist on a second piano- many are actually marked : "Two Pianos, Four-Hands."

The caveat is that you will need two copies of the same score: one for the solo pianist and one for the pianist playing the orchestral reduction.

Trust me on this!

By the way, the full score, solo piano with orchestra parts as well as a two-piano score are available on IMSLP. You can check out the details there.

Thanks, BDB and BruceD. From your comments and the comments on Sheet Music Plus it sounds like the copies labelled "2 pianos/4 hands" are referring to the orchestral part only, and I might have to find two accompanists. What fun!

I think not. Piano concerto scores - when you don't have the complete orchestra parts - are almost always written for two pianos: the solo pianist (with his/her two hands) plays the piano part and the accompanying pianist (with his/her two hands) plays the orchestral part which has been "reduced" to a single piano score. Total : four hands. Such scores are invariably referred to as being written for two pianos, four hands. From the standpoint of practicality - and from my own experience - it wouldn't make much sense to have two pianists on the accompanying piano.

I've just checked through over a half dozen of my piano concerto scores published in this manner and they all have this in common : - the original solo piano part- the orchestral part reduced for one pianist on a second piano- many are actually marked : "Two Pianos, Four-Hands."

The caveat is that you will need two copies of the same score: one for the solo pianist and one for the pianist playing the orchestral reduction.

Trust me on this!

By the way, the full score, solo piano with orchestra parts as well as a two-piano score are available on IMSLP. You can check out the details there.

Regards,

I trust you! And most piano concerto scores I've seen are arranged in the manner you describe. However, this work appears to be an exception, hence my confusion.

I hadn't noticed the 2-piano version on IMSLP, though, so thank you for that... but on first glance the accompaniment looks horrendously difficult and might require an extra pair of hands anyway!

By the way, regarding your comment about Rhapsody in Blue, I believe Gershwin himself composed versions of the piece for 2 pianos and for solo piano, and it was later orchestrated & arranged for piano & orchestra by Grofe.

I am sorry, but you are wrong. I have seen the 2-piano score, and it is definitely for solo piano with piano 4-hands accompaniment. I just looked at the IMSLP version, and that is how it is scored. There is a Russian version with a 2-hands accompaniment there, however. Downloading those versions are illegal outside of the US. The Russian version may be illegal to buy outside the US, as well. (I am in the US, and I am not keeping these files, I have just been checking them.)

I have a copy of the solo part from De Falla's Harpsichord Concerto, which is a true solo part, without the other instruments in the part. It was also published by Eschig.

I agree that most pieces for piano and orchestra come as two pianos with two pianists. However, some concertos do have solo parts available, with no more than cues from the orchestra part. (It is more common for multiple piano concertos, like the Carnival of the Animals and the Bach concertos, where it is difficult to pick out the solo part from the accompaniment.) This piece is one of those exceptions.